overview of nasa gsfc cubesat activities - cal...

GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

Overview of NASA GSFC CubeSat Activities

Thomas P. Flatley

Head, Science Data Processing Branch

Software Engineering Division

NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, MD USA

10th Annual CubeSat Developer’s Workshop

Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA April 24-26, 2013


Goddard Space Flight Center

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GSFC is the largest combined organization of scientists and engineers in the United States dedicated to increasing knowledge of the Earth, the Solar System, and the Universe via observations from space

Established in 1959 as NASA’s first Space Flight Center • End-to-End Science and Technology Missions capabilities • Integrated Science, Engineering, and Project Management • Nearly 300 Missions – from the world’s first weather satellite (1960) to

Hubble Space Telescope servicing and beyond • Communication and Navigation systems for NASA and National Programs • 5500+ Scientists and Engineers

Our Mission: We do Earth and Space Science Missions • Conception, development, deployment, and operation of science and

technology missions • Address fundamental questions in Earth and Space Science • Deliver data and information to the public in ways that they can use it • Identify and aggressively pursue technology advancements that enable

science breakthroughs GSFC has built more in-house spacecraft than any other NASA center!


NASA Goddard Facilities

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• Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland

• Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia

• IV&V Facility, West Virginia

• Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York

• White Sands Ground Station, New Mexico

GSFC

GISS IV&V

WFF

WSGS

GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER 4

TRACE

ACE

SOHO

RHESSI

Wind

Voyager

Geotail

TIMED

FAST

Polar

Stereo

THEMIS

IMAGE

MMS Solar-B

QuikSCAT

ACRIMSAT

EO-1

COBE

Landsat 7

TRMM

TDRSS

Aqua

Terra

CloudSat

CALIPSO

GRACE

SORCE

ICESat

Messenger

Cassini

New Horizons

LRO

Aquarius

RXTE

Cluster SDO

NPP

AIM

LDCM

GPM

TOMS

JWST

Compton GRO

HST

Spitzer

Swift FUSE

GALEX

Fermi

WMAP

Mars Science Laboratory

POES

GOES

WISE

IBEX

Aura

GEMS

MAVEN Juno

LADEE

RBSP

TWINS (Instrument

)

EUVE

SWAS

NuSTAR

Integral

IUE

ERBS

TOPEX

Osiris-Rex (Sample Return)

Pioneer

Galileo

Astro-H


GSFC CubeSats/SmallSats

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“To enable a new class of future Goddard missions by developing technology for small spacecraft architectures, mission concepts, component subsystem hardware, and deployment methods.”

• Two primary application areas - Short-term demo/test (months) - “Real” science missions (1 to 3+ years,

orbits other than LEO)

• Strong science rationale for using small spacecraft platforms & constellations

• The way to “get things done” with current and near-term future budgets flat or decreasing

• Partnerships with universities, industry and other government agencies are critical

• Scalable components for 3U, 6U, 12U, SmallSat


Science Applications

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Heliophysics / Astrophysics • Simultaneous distributed measurements using

constellations • “System science” observatories

Earth Science Decadal Survey Missions • HyspIRI, ACE, ASCENDS, GEO-CAPE, LIST, 3D WINDS, etc

Planetary • Lunar, Asteroid, Mars

Exploration • Subsystem technology, vehicle inspection, orbital debris

clean-up


Heliophysics DRM #1 • Distributed in-situ measurements, 1U-6U platforms Heliophysics DRM #2 • Sensor clouds, ‘Sprite’ platforms, picosats, femtosats 10 to 1 improvement

in spatial resolution Earth Science DRM #1 • LEO remote sensing missions, multispectral imagery, atmospheric

sounding, RF reflectometry, 3D cloud structure Planetary Science DRM #1 • Lunar and Mars missions; Remote sensing of planetary surfaces, comm

relay constellations Planetary Science DRM #2 • Outer Planet missions, NEO missions and planetary landers, astrobiology Astrophysics DRM #1 • Distributed aperture telescopes, occulters

Design Reference Missions


GSFC CubeSat Program

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Current Activities • Flight Projects: NSF, Air Force, LCAS • Technology Projects: IRAD, SBIR, STTR • Proposal Activity: OCT, HOPE, ESTO, SEED, EPSCoR, NSF, SMD/Explorer • Collaborations: Universities, Other NASA Centers, OGA’s, Industry,

Consortia, ESA, Korea - UNLV, Auburn, U of Alabama, Cal Poly, Utah State , U of Florida - JPL, AFRL, NRL, Maryland Aerospace Inc. (MAI)

Current Development Efforts and Applications • Science missions using commercially available small spacecraft • Technology validation for larger spacecraft platforms • In-house instrument design for CubeSats/SmallSats • In-house high-reliability spacecraft bus and deployer development • Subsystem technology development for small spacecraft • Integration, launch, ground support, and mission operations • Lower cost, scalable engineering processes


Key Technology Activities

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• Technologies applicable to spinning platforms • Communications: Low power, multiple access, distributed control • Deployers: Picosat deployer designs for multiple potential designs

(chipsats, sprites, cubesprites) • Propulsion: High delta-V capable propulsion systems (> 3 km/s) • Power: Deployable solar arrays, extended battery life, improved

efficiency solar cells, alternative generation/storage • Thermal Design: Design for long unpowered transit as secondary

payload, and challenging lunar orbit thermal environment • Propulsion: 6DOF micropropulsion with thrust resolution ~ 0.1mN, total

delta-V ~ 1Km/s • Precision 3-axis pointing capability (< arcmin), relative navigation

sensors (RF and optical) • Virtual telescope formation flying • Structure fabrication using 3D printing technology • SpaceCube Mini On-Board Science Data Processor • Micro Core Flight Executive (MicroCFE) flight software


GSFC TechCube Goals Problem: • Typical CubeSats have very limited resources/capabilities and historically have a 50/50 chance of working • Mission duration is typically months ** NASA needs higher performance, higher reliability, longer duration CubeSat/SmallSat bus systems to enable future low-cost missions

TechCube: • Subsystems developed using same design “techniques” as full-size NASA missions • Full-feature, high performance avionics suite (25+W power, 1M+bps comm, <1°pointing, GPS), 3+ year mission life • Collaborating with other government agencies, universities and industry (DoD also very interested in high-rel CubeSats)


Command & Data

Handling Comm Power Pointing

Solar Array

1

GPS

3U “TechCube” Concept

Solar Array

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Solar Array

3 Batteries

Payload

Antenna Antenna

Bus

Payload

1U

2U

3U

Switched power

Un-switched power

Data

10cm

30cm

Payload/Bus Volume

20cm

10cm


Wallops UHF CubeSat Groundstation • Specifications

– Built 1959 by MIT Lincoln Labs

– Valued at $20M

– Beamwidth: 2.9 degrees

– Frequency Range: 380 to 480 MHz

– Frequency Band: UHF-Band

– Secondary Frequency Band: X-Band available for future high data rate CubeSat communication

– Antenna Main Beam Gain: 35 dBi

– Diameter: 18.3 meters (60’)

– UHF Radar as a CubeSat Groundstation

– Cutting-Edge CubeSat communication over a government-licensed UHF frequency allocation that enables high data rates (1.5 Mbit/Sec)

– Currently communicating with DICE spacecraft

– Slated for use for Firefly, CeREs, MicroMAS, and many proposed CubeSats

– Recent Updates

– NSF and GSFC funding a new antenna control unit

– NSF funding a backup UHF capability at Morehead University using their 21 meter X, S-band dish

Wallops UHF on left, S-Band on right

Morehead State University 21 Meter antenna


Wallops 6U Deployer Advantages

• Flight Qualified

• Unique lateral and axial CubeSat constraint system provides most predictable loading environment for CubeSat

– Systems relying on friction may allow slip of the CubeSat under high G accelerations

• Developed for higher reliability requirements

• Conservative design that has potential to allow more payload mass than 12 kg

• Interior volume is 19% greater than two 3U CubeSats

• 6U CubeSat structure available

• Flexibility for volume and mass versus 3U

– More orbit options

• Starting technology transfer to LASP

Wallops 6U Deployer with mass simulator

Wallops 6U Deployer during vibration test


Description and Objectives: • Develop a preliminary design for a reliable carrier

and multiple ejection system that accommodates the WFF 6U as well as other 1U to 3U size spacecraft and interfaces to the ESPA ring

Key challenge(s)/Innovation:

• Design looks to advance current technology by working to improve satellite constraint reliability and overall system structural efficiency, while providing a platform for 6U multiple satellite opportunities

Approach: • Design requirements will be derived through

experience with the Wallops 6U, referencing ESPA documentation, and other research. Concepts will be generated and evaluated until a single concept is chosen. This concept will proceed through design iteration and preliminary analysis cycle.

Application / Mission: • Missions that desire to use multiple 1U to 6U

satellites to either work together or autonomously collect data

Milestones and Schedule: • Concept development – 11/1/12 • Design presentation package – 10/1/13

Small Satellite Multiple Ejector System

Technology Readiness Level: • Starting TRL: 1 • Anticipated Ending TRL: 2

Space Technology Roadmap Mapping: • Primary Technical Area: TA12 • Secondary Technical Area: NA • Additional Technical Area(s): NA • Applicable Space Technology Grand Challenge:

Economical Space Access


SpaceCube “Mini”

VIRTEX-5 FX130T FPGA 512MB RAM 12GB FLASH 16 Channel A/D (4) LVDS/Spacewire (8) RS-422

(4) MGT Gigabit Ethernet SATA (70) GPIO Special Cmd Reset JTAG

SpaceCube is a cross-cutting, in-flight reconfigurable Xilinx FPGA based on-board hybrid science data processing system that provides 10x to 100x improvements in on-board computing power.


CeREs: A Compact Radiation bElt Explorer

Mission 3U CubeSat in high inclination LEO Implementation 2 years to launch; 1 year of data taking Science Primary Radiation belt energization and loss electron spectra, and microbursts Secondary: Solar electron spectra from > 5 keV Sensor MERiT, Miniaturized Electron and pRoton Telescope Concept: SSD stack behind a Silicon APD GSFC PI Shri Kanekal, Code 672

PI institute SSD stack, Processor, Science, S/C bus, role Instrument calibration, Integration CoI Institute SwRI role APD, mission SOC, Science Total Funding ~ $1.5M


IceCube: Submm-Wave Remote Sensing from CubeSat PI: Dong Wu, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

UHFBandAntenna

RadiometerPayload

CoarseSunSensors(6faces)–FineSunSensornotshown

GPSReceiver

UHFRadio

BatteryPack

EPS

PayloadInterfaceModule

ADACS SolarPanels

MagnetometerBoard

GPSPatchAntenna

25mmaxiallengthmargin

MotherboardandProcessor

874 GHz Receiver Beam

Nadir View

Limb View

Space View

• A proposed project to NASA InVEST program

• Develop a flight-qualified 874-GHz receiver for future cloud remote sensing

• Validate 874-GHz radiometer hardware, operation and calibration performance in space on a 3U CubeSat

• Launch 3U COTS-component CubeSat to LEO orbit with >350-km altitude

• Observations of Earth atmosphere and space for 28+ days, and data return for NEDT, calibration error, and response to clouds


Earth Science CubeSat for Advanced Payload Experiments (ESCAPE)

Key Objective: Demonstrate new Fabry-Perot sensor technology with real-time on-board processing/information extraction, using state-of-the-art commercial processing technology coupled with radiation upset mitigation software (SpaceCube Mini)

• New Fabry-Perot radiometer technology that will enable small, light weight, rugged, and relatively inexpensive, yet exquisitely sensitive sensors for monitoring trace gasses • Enhanced on-board processing to demonstrate real-time spectra extraction, yielding data volume reductions of 300x to 900x • Results can be leveraged by the Earth Science Decadal Survey era missions


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MaRBLES focuses on understanding both of these processes covering both the inner and the

outer Van Allen belts. MaRBLES will fully characterize electron microbursts, an important sink-

mechanism for outer zone electrons and will measure electron spectra with a fast sweep of the L

shells (orbital period of ~ 90 minutes), which will enable us to understand electron energization.

MaRBLES will also characterize the inner radiation belts through measurements of albedo neu-

trons, known to be a significant source of high-energy protons, and simultaneous measurements

of the high-energy proton flux. These observations provide critical input to the CRAND (Cosmic

Ray Albedo Neutron Decay) model. Furthermore, MaRBLES will be sensitive to neutrons of di-

rect solar origin, which provide important clues to particle acceleration at the Sun.

MaRBLES thus will enable us to answer our key science questions:

1) What role do electron microbursts play in relativistic electron loss from the radiation belts?

a. What are the spectral characteristics of electron microbursts?

b. What is the relationship between microburst intensity and duration to macroscopic

electron flux lifetimes?

c. How do electron microburst characteristics vary with latitude?

d. What is the contribution of precipitation bands to electron loss?

2) At what rate do energetic neutrons at LEO contribute to the inner radiation belt population

via the CRAND mechanism ?

Figure 2: A conceptual picture of the radiation belts (inner and outer), the orbits of the Van Allen

Probes, and the proposed orbit for MaRBLES. The bottom right panel shows the Earth's dipole

field lines and an example of a trapped particle trajectory bouncing back and forth along a magnetic

field line.

MaRBLES (MeAsuring Radiation Belt Low Earth Sources/Sinks) PI: EJ Summerlin, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Instrument Concepts

CREPT • 1U Solid-State Telescope • Components: TRL 6+ • Instrument: TRL 5 SNuG • 1U Scintillator-based

Spectrometer for NeUtrons and Gamma-Rays

• Components TRL 6+ • Instrument TRL 4

• Training: Provide hands-on experience for all aspects of a small mission • Science: Characterize sources and sinks of energetic particles in the

radiation belts from a near polar low earth orbit focusing on microbursts measurements at high latitudes to supplement Van Allen Probe measurements at low latitudes and the CRAND source for the inner radiation belts

• Technology: Provide flight heritage for instruments and instrument components

• LOB: Develop in-house expertise in CubeSats and increase instrument TRL to improve selectability for future proposals


Conclusion

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• GSFC has a vast array of science/mission applications … spanning all science disciplines

• GSFC has wide ranging technology development interests … spanning all engineering disciplines

• GSFC has full end-to-end CubeSat/SmallSat capabilities … PI/Co-I, flight/ground/systems engineering, software, project management

• GSFC is very interested in collaborating with universities, other government agencies and industry in all areas … working together = mission success for the entire community!


Questions ?

Tom Flatley (GSFC): 301-286-7029 [email protected]

Scott Schaire (WFF): 757-824-1120

[email protected]

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mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Acronyms

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APD – Avalanche Photo Diode ASCENDS – Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons CeREs – Compact Radiation bElt Explorer COTS – Commercial Off-The-Shelf CRAND – Cosmic-Ray Albedo-Neutron Decay CREPT – Compact Relativistic Electron Proton Telescope DICE – Dynamic Ionosphere CubeSat Experiment DoD – Department of Defense DRM – Design Reference Mission or Drafting Room Manual E/PO – Education/Public Outreach EPSCoR – Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research ESA – European Space Agency ESCAPE – Earth Science CubeSat for Advanced Payload Experiments ESPA – EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) Secondary Payload Adaptor ESTO – Earth Science Technology Office FPGA – Field Programmable Gate Array GEO-CAPE – Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events mission GISS – Goddard Institute for Space Studies GPIO – General Purpose Input/Output GSFC – Goddard Space Flight Center HOPE – Hands-On Project Experience HyspIRI – Hyper-spectral Infrared Imager mission InVEST – In-Space Validation of Earth Science Technologies IRAD – Independent Research and Development IV&V – Independent Verification and Validation JPL – Jet Propulsion Laboratory JTAG – Joint Test Action Group LASP – Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics LCAS – Low-Cost Access to Space LEO – Low Earth Orbit LIST – Lidar Surface Topography

LOB – Line Of Business LVDS – Low-Voltage Differential Signaling MAI – Maryland Aerospace, Inc. MaRBLES – Measuring Radiation Belt Low Earth Sources/Sinks MERiT – Miniaturized Electron and Proton Telescope MGT – Multi-Gigabit Transceiver MicroCFE – Micro Core Flight Executive MicroMAS – Micro-sized Microwave Atmospheric Satellite NASA – National Aeronautic and Space Administration NEDT – Noise Equivalent Delta Temperature NEO – Near Earth Objects NRL – Naval Research Laboratory NSF – National Science Foundation OCT – Office of the Chief Technologist OGA – Other Government Agencies PI – Principal Investigator RF – Radio Frequency SATA – Serial AT Attachment SBIR – Small Business Innovation Research SEED – Systems Engineering Educational Discovery SMD – Science Mission Directorate SNuG – Spectrometer for NeUtrons and Gamma-Rays SOC – Science Operations Center SSD – Silicon Strip Detectors STTR – Small Business Technology Transfer SwRI – Southwest Research Institute TRL – Technology Readiness Level UHF – Ultra-High Frequency VLF – Very Low Frequency WFF – Wallops Flight Facility WSGS – White Sands Ground Station

overview of nasa gsfc cubesat activities - cal...

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